democracy

That one of the causes of the deteriorating quality of policy-making is of the politicians own making should come as no surprise – and it is confirmed by the latest survey of what New Zealand’s public servants think of their political masters. In short, the view is that policy is so compromised by political bias and prejudice as to render it increasingly ineffective in terms of serving the public interest. That’s right – policy best-practice is the victim of political regimes of the modern era having changed the rules to enable their political expediency to rule. One of its strongest manifestations is the role of political staff appointed in Ministers offices that run interference to prevent the public service doing its job. Secondly, Ministers are increasingly unwilling to take free and frank, politically neutral advice. That too was a resounding finding of the survey.

It is not unusual for politicians to make promises they can’t keep. In an attempt to restore some integrity and transparency into politics, The Opportunities Party (TOP) has undertaken means to fully cost all our policies and show where the money is coming from. Not all parties are this robust however. One party in particular, is writing cheques they can’t cash and therefore making promises they can’t possibly deliver. That party is NZ First and their leader is Winston Peters.

Our democracy is a fragile thing. We know that disillusion with it is on the rise, that a growing swathe of voters feel so disempowered that they’re driven to not participate, to turn down their opportunity to shape the next government or to ensure governments are accountable to the whole citizenry. Democracy starts to fail once voter participation slides and in New Zealand it’s been sliding for 30 years now.

Last week Forest and Bird won a case against the Minister of Conservation in the Supreme Court. The Society was concerned that the Director General of Conservation had contravened the Conservation Act by allowing a protected conservation land swap to enable the Ruataniwha dam to proceed, and that this would set a dangerous precedent for protected land. The Minister’s response to the Supreme Court decision is Conservation Act reform.

It is appalling enough that Mr Bridges tried to suppress the release of the Wiri to Westfield rail line business case, particularly given that we are all shareholders in KiwiRail. This is yet another example of Establishment Parties slowly bending the public service to their own ends, instead of doing what they should do; serve the public.

A couple of weeks ago 100 young Pasifika leaders gathered in Christchurch to discuss Aotearoa New Zealand’s big issues. I was happy to contribute a video to the day, and they have now published a summary of what they agreed.

The merger of Fairfax and NZME looks to have stalled. The opponents of the merger said that having one owner of newspapers in the country would put too much power in one company’s hands, ultimately risking public interest journalism. Meanwhile Fairfax and NZME argued that without merger newspapers will close, ultimately risking public interest journalism.

TOP’s policy #4 ‘Democracy Reset’ proposes, among other things, the return of an Upper House. This is a response to the concentration of political power in Cabinet and its ability to wield that power without due recourse to Parliament, let alone to the New Zealand public.

We need a Constitution – badly. As covered in our policy release #4 Democracy Reset, confidence in government and faith in our democracy is falling away rapidly, particularly amongst those generations younger than the Baby Boomers. The unbridled power of Cabinet and the implied loss of sovereignty of parliament are both reasons New Zealanders regard voting as futile. A Constitution would make it loud and clear to politicians what it is New Zealanders value and what we require to be protected. Restoring an Upper House would ensure that parliaments sovereignty is protected and the unbridled power of Cabinet, ends. Constitutions and Upper Houses are essential features of almost all democracies.